Media Alert: Marketers Turn to Generative AI Amid Rising Customer
Expectations in Southeast Asia
* Brands face high demand to expand digital experiences: 90% of SEA
consumers expect to view products virtually or through augmented
reality, 86% want brands to provide new ways to engage in immersive and
virtual worlds
* Adobe research on SEA consumers: In today’s digital economy, 58%
expect more personalised experiences tailored to their unique likes and
needs
* SEA marketing professionals look to generative AI for assistance with
workload, creativity, and customer reach as demand for personalised
content increases
SINGAPORE – 5 July 2023: Southeast Asia (SEA) brands across Malaysia,
Singapore, and Thailand, will lead the next wave of global customer
experience innovation as consumers become aware of new technologies, and
more deeply explore virtual and immersive environments, according to new
research from Adobe. To help fuel this experience transformation,
marketers and consumers alike are eager to embrace artificial
intelligence (AI), especially generative AI.
The global survey of 13,000 consumers and 4,250 marketing and customer
experience professionals outlines the broad impact of breakthrough
technologies on consumers and businesses, highlighting new frontiers for
living, working, and shopping online.
According to Adobe’s Future of Digital Experiences Report [1], 73% of
SEA consumers, compared to 58% across Asia Pacific (APAC), will choose
an online shopping destination as their channel of choice within two
years. They also expect brands to expand their digital experiences into
new formats. In fact, in the next two years, nine in 10 SEA consumers
expect to view products through virtual or augmented reality, and 86%
want brands to provide new ways to engage in immersive and virtual
worlds.
Today, SEA brands are planning to respond with new and innovative
digital experiences such as:
* The ability to build virtual products and convert them into physical
items (84%)
* VIP access to virtual influencers and celebrities (84%)
* Offering digital tokens to trade for virtual and physical products
(84%)
* Virtual games to win points or prizes (81%)
* Virtual/immersive events (78%)
Expectations soar in the present climate
While the future is exciting, the current economic environment is
putting pressure on brands to up-level their customer experiences:
Almost two-thirds (64%) of SEA consumers say their expectations are
higher when economic conditions worsen. The sea of data and technology
companies in the market today also resulted in over half of SEA
consumers (58%) expecting more personalised experiences that are
tailored to their unique likes and needs.
Interestingly, SEA consumers also place an outsized premium on trust in
a challenging economy, where 36% rank trust as the most important factor
impacting their buying decisions, ahead of price (24%) and relevance
(23%).
Brands and consumers recognise generative AI’s potential
As expectations escalate, SEA marketing and customer experience
professionals are already relying on AI: 60% say AI is helpful in their
work, with 17% calling AI “a miracle”. Marketing and customer
experience professionals are even more optimistic regarding emerging
generative AI technologies—about nine in ten respondents believe
generative AI will help increase their work volume (93%) and create
better content (89%), enhance their creativity (92%), and help reach
more of the right customers (88%). Strong majorities also believe
generative AI will help better personalise customer experiences (93%),
as well as in identifying new audiences and customer journeys (93%).
SEA consumers also recognise the potential for generative AI to
transform their brand interactions. About 90% say it will enhance the
customer experience, and believe it can improve product quality. When it
comes to leveraging generative AI, consumers are most excited for brands
to help them better find things online (32%), make experiences more
relevant and helpful (30%), and enhance the creativity of content they
engage with (27%).
“As economic challenges intensify, customer expectations for
always-on, personalised content will continue to grow,” said Simon
Dale, Vice President and Managing Director, SEA and Korea, Adobe.
“Marketers across SEA recognise this soaring demand, and as such are
proactively embracing advanced technologies such as generative AI to
maintain a competitive edge. Strategically investing in cutting-edge
technologies to transform their brand interactions results in enhanced
organisational efficiency and allows for exceptional customer
experiences.”
India, SEA consumers at forefront of demand for new digital experiences
The research reveals diverse perspectives across various markets in SEA
and APAC. Consumers and marketers in India and SEA are generally more
active in embracing new digital experience formats, environments, and
tools than in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
This includes 81% of consumers in India who expect more personalised and
relevant digital experiences, given the data and technologies brands can
access. These numbers contrast with 32% of consumers in Australia and
New Zealand, and 13% in Japan.
These numbers parallel national consumer expectations that brands will
offer new and innovative experiences. For example, 91% of Indian
consumers and 86% in SEA expect new ways for brands to engage in virtual
or immersive worlds. The same is true for 60% of consumers in Australia
and New Zealand, compared with just 48% in Japan.
Similar variations are seen when it comes to the perceived potential of
generative AI to enhance customer experiences or products. In India
(93%) and SEA (89%), around nine in ten consumers believe generative AI
can improve customer experiences and product quality—in Australia and
New Zealand, the numbers are in the six in ten range (63%).
About the Adobe Future of Digital Experiences Report
Adobe’s Future of Digital Experiences Report is a global survey
produced in partnership with Advanis, examining digital experiences
across multiple dimensions, including the digital economy, experience
frontiers (channels and content), and generative AI.
To download the full Adobe Future of Digital Experiences Report 2023
report, click here [1].
Methodology
The Report is derived from an online survey of more than 13,000
consumers and 4,250 marketing and customer experience professionals
globally, conducted by Advanis in February 2023. Asia-Pacific and
Southeast Asia analysis is based upon a sample of 5,027 consumer
respondents and 1,474 marketing and customer experience professionals.
This includes Australia (529/183), India (2008/496), Japan (1009/498),
Malaysia (286/51), New Zealand (481/108), Singapore (291/70) and
Thailand (423/68).
About Adobe
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more
information, visit adobe.com/sea [2].
